2006

Mark Chamberlain is a man who has everything - a job he loves; the jail tattoos to prove it; a cop on his trail; and a houseful of stolen electrical goods. All he's missing is Caroline May, and she's been gone for twenty-five years. Nobody knows what happened to Caroline, though they still tell the stories. One afternoon her parents came home and she just wasn't there. They searched all of North Head, all of Auckland, looking for a blonde fourteen-year-old. They covered the city with posters; the cops drowned in paperwork. She was seen on the ferry, on a plane, with a stranger, on her own.

When successful architect Philip Ross first meets Grace Falco, his best friend Mitch's fiance, he thinks 'trashy Manhattan trophy wife'. Grace is everything he dislikes in a woman -- overdressed, under-fed and out of control.

But when Mitch commits suicide, leaving Grace impoverished, Philip's feelings towards her start to change -- much to the dismay of his girlfriend, Poppy Adams.

Angry and hurt at being pushed out of Philip's life, Poppy acts on a growing suspicion that Grace Falco is not who she says she is.

Beyond high iron gates fastened shut with a length of chain, lies the stark, beautiful Trawbawn. Here, haunted by a dark, mysterious past and largely ignored by the villagers of nearby Skibbereen, lives the frail Lydia Beauchamp. But old Ma Beauchamp's private existence is interrupted when a stranger arrives - a young man called Adam who wanders into the vast grounds of Trawbawn and becomes one of Lydia's most welcome contacts with the outside world. When Lydia sets her new confidante a challenge, he eagerly accepts.

When a young Asian student is strangled, Nickie Taroney suspects the killer may be a cop. On the case is Terry Dedovic. There is something about him Nickie doesn't trust. Where exactly do his loyalties lie? When Nickie gets involved in a risky relationship, her suspicions are confirmed.

Jack Buturow, employed as a bouncer in a Sydney casino, is hiding from his former life. Despite himself, he becomes involved in the investigation of the death of a friend. During his quest, he confronts Vietnamese gangsters, corrupt cops, psychotic bikers - and a woman whose life mirrors his own.

When journalist India Kane agrees to accompany a Greenpeace ship in its pursuit of a whaling fleet, she has no idea what awaits her. Buffeted by high winds and blinded by freezing fog, by the time they spot the huge tanker bearing down on them - it is simply too late. Eight crew members are lost, including one of India's closest friends.

It's been a long, hard winter in the small Alaskan town of Lake's Edge - and things are about to get even tougher. Lisa McCall, a young and brilliant research scientist, has disappeared out in the Alaskan wilderness in the middle of a snowstorm. Lisa's sister, Abby - shaken by the news - flies out from England to join the rescue team.

Murder and intrigue in the English countryside When Belinda Lawrence first sees a piece of tapestry on an antique buying expedition, she is instantly curious. Could this be a missing piece of the Bayeux Tapestry? Belinda's friend and colleague Hazel Whitby is not so intrigued. She doesn't understand Belinda's fascination. When the tapestry comes into Belinda's possession through a strange series of events, she still can't arouse Hazel's interest, nor that of her boyfriend Mark. To them it is just a rag.

While working on a top-secret research program for the US Department of Defense in the freezing waters off Japan, a leading scientist turns up dead, eaten by a monster shark.

US Air Force OSI Special Agent Vin Cooper is hurriedly dispatched to investigate. Cooper, however, has barely begun when he's pulled off the case to look into the death of an old military buddy who died while making a routine parachute jump. Both cases suddenly collide when Cooper finds himself having to parachute out of a plane and into the night-time skies of a hostile Pakistan.

For Cassandra, an editor, books are easy. It's real life that's the challenge: it doesn't sit quietly and let itself be fixed. Right now Cassandra's life seems far too heavy on the suspense, while the romance is distinctly unconvincing.

But that was before the murders started. And before she suspected that her own name was on the killer's hit list.

Murder, match-making and the dark arts of book editing: The Apricot Colonel is Halligan at her light-hearted best.